Unseen By Most Eyes
by yotsuya21
Summary: Jack, to his surprise, starts to fall for Gwen. Gwen, after some traumatizing events in her life, starts to lean towards Jack. Will she let herself be seduced by the sleazy Time Agent? Or is he maturing a little? Also some Tosh/Owen in there.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N **_Hi c: This is my first ever Torchwood fic, I've only just started watching it, and I'm up to Children Of Earth Day Two, so if I get things wrong bear with me :S_

_I hope you enjoy!_

'We've got rift activity,' Tosh said conversationally, over the noise of the coffee machine.

'What kind of rift activity?' Jack asked, clattering down the stairs from his office.

'It looks like a small object has come through, nothing dangerous by the looks of it,' Toshiko said, reading the screen. 'It's coming from just out of town, in that abandoned house.'

'An abandoned house, how cliche,' Owen commented, sipping his coffee. 'I'll pass on that one.'

Gwen laughed. 'It sounds exciting to me. I'll go check it out.'

'I'll come too,' Jack announced. 'I need to get out of the house.' His eyes twinkled at Gwen. 'We'll have some girly time together, just us.'

Ianto rolled his eyes and disappeared into the tourist office with a cup of coffee.

'Ready?' Jack asked brightly. Gwen pulled on a jacket. 'Ready.'

Jack grabbed her hand and twirled her around. 'Who you gonna call?'

'Torchwood!' Gwen said playfully, pointing an invisible gun and shooting, as Jack made spooky ghost noises.

Owen caught Tosh's eye, and burst out laughing. Tosh giggled and said 'Take your alien-busting outside, I don't want you accidentally sucking one of us up.'

Jack withdrew his imaginary gun and winked. 'Will do. See you on the other side.'

The black SUV pulled up at their destination, a dilapidated old brick house that looked like it had been there for over a hundred years.

'It is abandoned, right?' Gwen asked semi-nervously, as they marched up to the lonely house.

'Tosh ran a scan, there are no living things in this property, apart from the usual wildlife,' Jack confirmed. 'We're clear, so far. There'll be routine checks, of course.'

Gwen pulled out her gun resignedly. 'This week has been bad enough without some lunatic jumping out at me from the shadows.'

Jack chuckled. 'You go round the bottom floor, I'll check the top. We gotta be quick, in case the rift disturbance gets stronger and something else appears.'

Gwen nodded, and Jack burst through the rackety old door, pointing his gun around the room, proceeding to dash upstairs. Gwen backed down the dusty hallway, pointing her gun into every corner.

'Clear,' she shouted up to the top floor.

A movement back in the kitchen caught her eye. She gripped her gun and prowled down the hall again, wishing she hadn't given the all-clear just yet.

She sidled up to the doorframe, and took a deep breath. There were no sounds echoing from the kitchen, which was a good sign.

Maybe.

Before she could psyche herself out, she leapt into the small room, gun raised, ready to take down any lurking predator-

'Oh, it was a bloody curtain!' she exclaimed, seeing the limp fabric fluttering in the open window. 'For god's sake!'

'You okay?' Jack's voice echoed. Gwen shook her head at her foolishness, and gingerly made her way up the stairs. They creaked menacingly, like they were about to fold under her slight weight.

She located Jack in an abandoned bedroom, advancing towards a small pocket watch on the moth-eaten rug. 'This is where the energy is coming from,' he said softly, sensing her in the room. 'It's a Vigilate Mortis.'

Gwen put down her gun as well, and gazed at the ancient watch. 'And what exactly is that? It looks harmless to me.' She knelt down and looked closer at the pocket watch. It was small and circular, with alien flora lightly engraved on it. A foreign language she'd never seen before was weaving in and out of the flowers.

'Careful,' Jack warned. 'I don't want you looking in it.' Gwen frowned, as a particularly violent gust of wind shuddered the house. 'Why not?'

'It shows an exact countdown to your death. It's driven people insane. It's dangerous, and I don't want you going wacko on me.' Jack grinned at her and bent down, reaching his hand towards the watch.

His fingertips brushed the metal.

A violent rumbling sounded to the west, and everything started trembling. Gwen stumbled and fell. 'Woah,' Jack said, holding on to the doorframe to steady himself. 'Woahhh!' he yelled, as the swaying quickly increased.

The trembling rose to a furious shaking, and dust started falling as Jack flailed wildly, trying to stay on his feet. The house started emitting ominous creaking sounds, and he suddenly realised what was about to happen.

'Jack! What's happening?' Gwen yelped, as she felt the floor slowly tip sideways. 'Gwen!' Jack yelled, throwing himself on top of her.

The earthquake increased with a deafening roar, and Gwen gripped Jack's coat so tight she felt she'd break her wrists. The bricks in the old house started falling, and Jack held on to Gwen for dear life as the house broke, and they fell.

'How's it going?' Owen spoke into his comm.

'_Uh, haven't found anything yet...', _Jack's voice sounded. '_Wait-there's something in this bedroom... I'll get back to you.'_

Owen switched off his earpiece and swung his chair around, facing Toshiko.

'Found anything, Tosh?' he inquired.

Tosh's fingers fluttered over the keyboard, and Owen could see numbers and graphs reflected in her glasses. 'Nothing yet,' she said tensely. 'It doesn't seem dangerous, so far. But you know Jack.'

'He attracts danger,' Ianto chuckled, passing each of them a box of Chinese and settling down on the couch with his food.

'Yeah, and we attract delicious food,' Owen said in delight, opening a carton of steaming rice.

The hot food spilled on the floor as a huge jolt shook it out of Owen's hand. The jolting continued in a violent shaking.

Tosh cried out as the deafening roar worsened. Owen threw himself in her general direction, vaguely noticing objects falling around him. Him and Ianto reached Tosh's desk at the same time, and the earthquake juddered to a halt as they huddled under the desk.

'What was that, an earthquake or something?' Tosh asked shakily. Ianto brushed off his suit, gazing at the trashed Hub in dismay. 'Looks like it,' he replied.

Owen unfolded himself with a grunt. 'You two okay? Anyone need my medical expertise?'

'Uh, I think I may need it,' Tosh said faintly, feeling her head. There was a large gash on her forehead, and it was dripping blood.

'Oh shit,' Ianto said concernedly.

Owen noted Tosh growing pale at the copious amounts of blood. 'Here,' he said, lifting her up and carrying her down into the medical bay. She blushed as he lowered her onto the autopsy table.

'You're okay, it just needs a few stitches,' Owen murmured, gently cleaning the wound. 'Your necklace is pretty.'

'It was my grandmother's,' Tosh said, feeling rather overwhelmed. Owen smiled at her as he started sewing up her wound.

Several minutes later, Tosh's forehead was good as new and she was back at her desk, only slightly red from Owen's face being in such close proximity to hers.

'We've lost power, and the comms are down. We can't contact Gwen and Jack,' she said nervously, remembering their friends.

Ianto groaned. 'I don't want to freak anyone out, but they're in a three-hundred year old brick building.'

Owen went pale.

_A new chapter should be coming in about a week or so :) A review would be appreciated, too c:_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Hey :) Sorry, this one isn't very good, I've had a really bad week so I was pretty distracted. It's holidays now though, so I should be able to update more. :)_

Silence. Dead silence.

Except for the faint patter of dust and dirt falling though the wreckage.

Gwen could feel a heavy mass on her. Jack.

She opened her eyes, her face was buried in his neck. She could smell his faint cologne.

She felt something hot drip on her hair. She wriggled upwards, so her face was level with Jack's. His face was slack, and there was a large cut on his forehead. He wasn't breathing. He'd sacrificed himself to save her.

'Oh, Jack, you stupid bloody thing,' she murmured. She knew he'd come back, and she was putting on a brave face. But inside, seeing Jack's lifeless face caused her more pain than she'd ever admit.

She extracted her arm out from under Jack with difficulty, and pressed her comm. A faint buzzing told her the lines were down, and she couldn't contact the Hub.

'Shit,' she muttered, seeing the debris they were trapped under. How was she meant to get out?

The best thing to do was to wait for Jack to wake up, Gwen decided. Even though it could take anything from two minutes to two hours.

She reached up, and gently closed his eyes. Her hand brushed against his blood-streaked cheek, and she kissed his forehead, not caring about the taste of his blood on her lips.

The gash on his forehead was frustratingly slowly healing. Gwen felt for a pulse on his neck, blind hope rushing through her.

A small, faint twitch rewarded her searching fingers.

'Jack?' Gwen whispered. 'Are you there?'

His lips trembled, and the twitch formed into a sudden pulse.

He lurched, violently gasping in as much air as possible. Gwen shrieked.

'Gwen! Are you okay?' he panted concernedly, noticing the blood covering her face.

Once Gwen's heartbeat returned to a relatively normal pace, she scowled, secretly relieved at her friend's resurrection.

'The blood's from you, dummy. I had to lie under your bulk for ten minutes while you steadily dripped on me!'

Jack smiled her favourite half-smile, eyes sparkling despite the situation they were in. 'That sounds sexual. Reminds me of this one time-well, that story's for another day. We gotta figure out how to get out of here.' He craned his neck upwards, assessing the situation. 'Looks like we can get out through there.' He extracted his arm with difficulty and pointed upwards, at a gap in the fallen rubble.

'Oh, good,' Gwen sighed in relief. Her minty sweet breath curled around Jack's nose, and he breathed it in happily.

'Er, Jack? Are you smelling me?' Gwen asked, in an air that suggested she was slightly worried for his sanity.

He smirked his trademark flirty half-smile. 'You smell good. What toothpaste do you use?'

She rolled her eyes and laughed at her boss's inability to stay serious. 'Some mint stuff, I don't know.'

He leaned down ever so slightly, his eyes not leaving hers. 'Well, you smell incredibly attractive. Matches your personality.' He winked.

Gwen's breath caught in her throat. She couldn't tear her eyes out of Jack's dark blue eyes. Was she really letting Jack seduce her?

She shook her head slightly, as if to get rid of her thoughts.

'Let's get out of here,' she said lamely.

Gwen's feet pounded the damp earth as she and Jack jogged back to the SUV. Swinging into the passenger seat, she sighed at the mixture of dust and Jack's blood covering her jacket.

'Er, yeah-sorry about that,' Jack said, taking his eyes off of the road to glance at her fretting. 'Ianto'll take care of it.'

Gwen started to speak, but was cut off by her cellphone trilling.

'Hello, Gwen Cooper speaking,' she answered.

'Hey, it's Andy,' a flustered voice replied. 'Hi Andy,' Gwen smiled.

Jack rolled his eyes.

'Yeah, uh, we've got some readings from the earthquake, and it turns out it wasn't a quake at all...looks like something your team would be interested in. Come to the station as soon as possible.'

'We're on our way,' Gwen answered, and hung up. 'Go to the station, Andy has some unusual readings about the quake,' she reported to Jack. He obliged, and five minutes later they were pulling up outside the police station.

'They have power,' Gwen commented, as she hopped out of the SUV.

'We have generators,' Andy explained, walking briskly up to them and smiling at Gwen. She smiled back. Jack sighed and pulled her into the brightly lit building.

'Hi there,' he said suavely at a passing officer. 'Captain Jack Harkness, and who are you?'

'Jack, there's a time and a place,' Gwen hissed, pulling her boss away from the only slightly disappointed policeman.

Jack sighed dramatically. 'Fine. What are these readings you're nattering on about?'

Andy ran his hand through his hair. Jack was testing his already thin patience.

'These readings we have, they aren't earthquake readings. It's something we've never seen before, something _no one's _seen before.'

'We've probably seen it then,' Jack said, pulling the laptop toward him and poring over it. 'Hmmm.'

'There's also been a few bad injuries, nothing fatal, but the patients are in critical condition,' Andy added.

'Yeah, okay,' Jack said aloofly. 'These figures look familiar. Tosh is hopefully working on them right now.'

'No power.' Gwen reminded him.

Jack straightened up. 'Oh, right. Blonde moment.'

Ianto felt the back of the cupboard, but there were no blankets.

He sighed and resignedly went down to the main room of the Hub, shivering delicately from the lack of heating.

His miserable mood was suddenly lightened by seeing Owen and Tosh in brightly striped ponchos.

'If we're going to freeze to death, let's freeze looking like a Peruvian folk band,' Tosh laughed, throwing Ianto a poncho. He pulled the oversized garment on, it went past his knees.

'You're lifesaver Tosh, you are,' Owen grinned, looking down at his abomination. Tosh blushed.

The lights in the Hub came on with a thunk.

'Oh, thank god, we don't have to wear these ridiculous ponchos,' Ianto sighed, shedding his immediately.

'I don't know, I'm rather attached to mine,' Tosh laughed. She sobered quickly however, because her computer was honking impatiently.

'What is it?' Owen asked in concern.

'There's been massive rift activity...' Toshiko answered slowly. Owen and Ianto scooted over to her desk.

'It was at the same time as the earthquake,' Tosh informed them. 'So I'm assuming it wasn't an earthquake, it was rift-related...'

At that moment, the power went out with a clunk again. Ianto resignedly pulled his poncho back on.

'Please tell me you boiled the jug, Ianto,' Owen asked, going pale at the thought of no coffee.

'You're lucky,' Ianto smiled, walking over to the steaming jug. 'What would you two do without me?'

'I love you, mate,' Owen sighed.

Ianto pulled a container of freshly baked cookies out of a drawer.

'I'm IN love with you, mate,' Owen rephrased, zooming over to the food.

'Okay, we'll check out the disturbances, see if we can figure it out,' Gwen promised. Andy nodded, satisfied.

'Let's get back to the Hub,' Jack noted, and they left the building.

In the SUV, Gwen suddenly remembered something. 'Jack, can we stop at Rhys's office? I want to make sure he knows it's going to be alright. That man is a drama queen, I tell you.'

Jack reluctantly agreed. 'Only because the phone lines are down,' he admonished, pulling up outside Harwood's. Gwen hopped out of the car. 'I'll be right back,' she promised. Jack scowled.

'Hi, Stacey,' she said, smiling at the receptionist. 'I'm here to see Rhys.'

Stacey stood up, and hugged Gwen warmly.

'Oh-hello,' Gwen said confusedly.

'I'm so sorry, sweetheart,' Stacey comforted.

Gwen's heart dropped through her chest. 'For what!' she demanded, heart pounding furiously.

'For Rhys,' Stacey said gently, leading Gwen to a chair, and sitting her down.

'What happened to Rhys?' Gwen demanded. Stacey took her hand, her heavily-powdered face drooping in sympathy.

'He was hit in the head with a falling piece of furniture, and he's in a coma at the hospital darling.'

Gwen's world fell down around her.

'Jack,' she yelled suddenly, startling the receptionist. 'Jack, get me to the bloody hospital!'

She rushed out of the foyer, and leaped into the SUV.

'Uh, will do,' Jack said bemusedly.

'As quick as possible, you useless bloody idiot,' Gwen shouted, fighting back tears. Jack knew better than to ask an angry crying woman what was wrong, but he assumed it was bad.

Taking advantage of their position beyond the police, they arrived at the hospital in record time. If he ever got pregnant again, he had no need to worry, Jack reflected, as he followed a highly-strung Gwen into the foyer.

'I'm here to see Rhys Williams,' she told the man behind the desk. He told her the room number and floor, and Gwen sprinted off.

Jack swooped after her, catching up just before she got to his door.

'Jack...' she said brokenly, a lonely figure in the hallway. 'I'm scared.'

Jack enveloped her in a hug. 'That's what love does to you, I'm afraid,' he said sadly.

Gwen leaned her head against his shoulder.

'Is it worth it, Jack? All the heartbreak, all the fighting? Have you ever been in love?'

He sighed. 'I've loved a lot of people. I've only been in love with a few. But...it's worth it. You just have to get through the bad times, because the good times are worth it.'

Gwen stared distantly at the hospital door separating her and Rhys.

'Stay with me,' she whispered. Jack took her shaking hand in his, and opened the door.

Rhys's pale body was surrounded by beeping monitors and tubes. A nurse was leaning over him, dressing his head wound.

Gwen's hand squeezed Jack's so tight he thought it would fall off, then it went limp.

'Gwen Cooper?' the nurse asked gently, walking over to them.

'Yes,' she said faintly. Jack put his arm around her waist, supporting her.

'I'm very sorry,' the nurse said sincerely. 'I'm afraid I have some more bad news for you.'

'What is it?' Jack asked, feeling rather shaken up.

'The chances of Mr. Williams waking up within the next five years are extremely slim. He's a vegetable for now, I'm afraid. I'm sorry.'

Gwen gripped Jack's hand so hard he squawked, and she collapsed, Jack catching her just before she hit the floor.

_You've bothered to read the whole chapter...at least give me a review? ;_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N **_**I'm so sorry it's been so long :/ My laptop broke, and I haven't been able to write more chapters, let alone update. So new stuff will be few & far between. Sorry guys :( **

'_Okay, what kind of pizza do you lot want?'_ Ianto's voice echoed through Gwen's head.

'_All the toppings,'_ Owen's rough accent answered enthusiastically.

'_No anchovies!' _Tosh cried. _'And remember Gwen hates pineapple.'_

Why were the Torchwood lot in her flat, Gwen wondered.

But...her bed felt different. She creaked open her eyes, and nearly swallowed her tongue when she recognised Jack's bunker. What the fuck was she doing here, in Jack's bed! What about Rhys!

_Rhys..._

The events of the previous day came crashing back to her. Her husband wired up, the nurse telling her he may not wake up...

She quickly sat up and got out of bed, before her thoughts consumed her.

She climbed up the ladder into Jack's empty office. With all the thoughts whirling around in her head, it was a miracle she made it down into the Hub without falling over.

Owen was sitting on a large cylindrical generator, connecting its wires together. Jack was lying underneath it, head inside the engine casing.

'Connect the blue wire to the third box,' Ianto announced, perched importantly on Owen's desk, holding an instruction manual. Owen swore as sparks flew from the generator.

Gwen wandered over to Toshiko, who was watching amusedly. 'Good morning,' she greeted her.

Tosh hugged her sympathetically. 'Are you feeling better?' she asked kindly.

'Not really,' Gwen answered glumly. 'I could use a coffee.' She raised her voice slightly with that sentence, so Ianto could hear her. He obliged, hopping off Owen's cluttered desk and cranking up the coffee machine.

Tosh reached into her desk and pulled out some chocolate. 'Here. If nothing cheers you up, this will at least make your taste buds happy,' she said kindly. Gwen laughed faintly.

'Thank you, Tosh, I appreciate it.' Tosh smiled and squeezed Gwen's hand, before walking back to her desk.

Loud beeping suddenly went off, rousing Gwen's headache. 'What's happened?' she asked.

Tosh leant close to her computer screens.

'Here you go,' Ianto said, pressing a steaming mug into Gwen's hand. She smiled gratefully. 'Thank, Ianto. Hey, uh-do you happen to know why I woke up in Jack's bed last night?'

Ianto laughed at her worried face. 'Nothing happened, don't worry. He carried you there, so he could keep an eye on you. You fainted at the hospital.' He squeezed her hand, and returned to the instruction manual.

Gwen slowly processed this information, and took a sip of the hot coffee, burning her tongue.

Suddenly tired of human voices, she slipped upstairs to the boardroom, and leaned against the cool glass wall, at the Hub below.

She gazed at Jack's legs, protruding out from under the now whirring generator. She was surprised that he'd thought to bring her back to the Hub, rather than drop her off at home, alone. He didn't seem to understand humans that much, and it was a rare act of thoughtfulness on his part.

Jack slid out from under the machine, looked up, and caught Gwen's eye. He bounded up the stairs.

'Hey, you,' he smiled, walking over. He had taken off his heavy coat, and was wearing a different shirt than his usual blue-a white one. He looked like he belonged a hundred years in the past. He did, in a way, Gwen mused.

He gazed into her eyes, reading her. 'Have a good sleep?'

She smiled, despite herself. 'It was good. I was woken by your loud team ordering pizza.'

They looked down into the Hub, at Owen ecstatically gobbling down slice after slice. Jack rolled his eyes. 'Sorry about that...I've been meaning to sound-proof my bunker for decades. One too many traumatized late-night workers...' His eyes twinkled. Gwen rolled her eyes, but her heart was going faster than usual, thanks to Jack's blue eyes gazing into hers. Jack was her weakness, and he damn well knew it, the bastard.

'That's enough smouldering,' she muttered, and Jack barked with laughter and pulled her into a hug. Gwen relaxed into his arms, enjoying his alien smell. Maybe, just maybe, she could get through this, if she had Jack. Jack had become her rock, whether he liked it or not.

He leaned back slightly, and pressed his forehead against hers. She closed her eyes, liking the closeness and the feeling of Jack's breath against her slightly opened mouth.

Gwen leaned forwards slightly, hardly aware of what she was doing. Jack's lips brushed lightly against hers-

'If you two want to get your grubby mitts off of each other and have some pizza, there's only a few slices left,' Owen announced from the doorway. Jack whirled around, grinning. 'I'm always up for pizza,' he said, bounding away.

Gwen quickly took a swig of coffee, wondering if her heartbeat would ever go back to normal. If she was so riled up from just being in close proximity to Jack, imagine how he'd make her feel sexually...

She knew she was wishing for the impossible and she might as well quit while she was ahead. But how could you quit love? Was that what this was? Love? When she couldn't stop thinking about Jack and the way he had just made her feel, by simply brushing his lips against hers. How she couldn't crush the idea that maybe, just maybe, he felt the same, and there might be something to look forward to.

She felt terrible about loving Jack when her husband was in such a predicament.

But she realised she couldn't stop if she tried. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack chose a slice of pizza, and took it to his office. He settled in behind his desk, but ignored his food. There were so many new feelings whirling about in his head, and he was a bit terrified.

He started small, establishing that he did indeed have feelings for Gwen. How strong were they, though?

Strong enough that he didn't want to just fuck her and be done with it, he mused. And for him, that was strong.

What did he want, then? A committed relationship? Well, that was impossible. She was married, and he hadn't been in a committed relationship in a good fifty years. So he was a little out of practice.

He stood up, casting his pizza aside.

'Ianto? Some strong double-shot coffee would be fantastic right now,' he said, thinking fleetingly of the Ninth Doctor. He walked into the main area of the Hub. 'You lot are allowed to go home early tonight. If Tosh's predictions are correct, we have a long week ahead, so get some rest while you can.'

Owen goggled at him. 'You're willingly letting us leave two hours early? What is suit-boy putting in your coffee?'

Jack laughed. 'Take it before I change my mind. See you all tomorrow.'

Everyone murmured goodbyes, leaving the Hub.

'Jack?'

He turned around, to see Gwen coming down the stairs from the boardroom, her empty coffee mug dangling in her hand.

'Yeah?' he answered, gently taking her cup and putting in in the dishwasher.

'It it okay if I stay here tonight? I don't want to go home, and be alone...'

Jack smiled. 'Sure you can,' he replied. 'There are some spare clothes in the blue cupboards, you might find some pajamas in there, if you're lucky.' He winked and disappeared into his office.

Gwen rummaged in the deep cupboard, unearthing some ancient-looking striped pajamas.

Jack laughed at the sight of the usually immaculate Gwen in rumpled old pajamas. 'Good look for you,' he teased.

Gwen scowled. 'I swear Jack Harkness, if you try anything with me I will lock you in the cells with Janet,' she warned, climbing into his bed.

Jack grinned, his enthusiasm not dampened. 'That's okay. Janet does have a certain charm-'

'Oh, don't even start,' Gwen grumbled, but she had a smile on her face. 'Goodnight, Jack.'

''Night, Gwen,' he said softly, leaning on his elbow and smiling down at her. She smiled and fell asleep to Jack's strange, alien heartbeat.

Jack lay on his back, noting vaguely this was the first time he'd fallen asleep with someone in this bed without having sex first. As he had this thought, Gwen snuffled and rolled towards him, the warmth. He drifted off to sleep with her in his arms, and it was the best sleep he'd had in a long time.

Owen rolled into bed, sighing with contentment. It had been a long day. Not just with work, but with his mind.

He'd pushed all his thoughts to one side all day, focusing on work. But now he could sort it out.

First things first, he thought, punching his pillow. Toshiko.

He'd always seen her as just a colleague, his nerdy friend. But recently he'd been looking at her differently.

And the way she looked at him, when she thought he wasn't looking...like Owen was the only person on earth.

Maybe to her, he was.

She didn't have many friends, he knew that. None of them did, except Jack. Torchwood took up a lot of their time. And apart from Tommy, she'd never had a boyfriend, that he knew of.

He groaned as he thought of all his girlfriends he'd introduced to her, without it ever occurring to him that he was breaking her heart.

And the way she'd blushed today, when he complimented her necklace. How she'd gazed into his eyes as he stitched up her forehead, and he'd completely ignored her...

Why the fuck was he only realising this now? The more he thought back on the past, the more things he remembered that could have left Tosh heartbroken...it killed him. Tosh didn't deserve his bullshit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tosh pulled on the silk pajamas her grandmother had given her, shivering slightly at the chilly fabric. A slight tug reminded her of her necklace.

She reached behind her neck, and unclipped the chain. As she hung it on her jewelry tree, she remembered Owen's compliment.

She groaned and flopped on her bed. Why was she even wasting her time? She felt like a giggly schoolgirl. Tosh was a grown woman, dammit, she shouldn't be crushing on a man like this.

But how was she supposed to simply stop being in love with someone, when she had to interact with him every day? It was highly impossible Owen would ever love someone as invisible and dorky as her, she sighed.

Owen ran his hand through his dark hair.

'Shit, I think I love her.'


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi. Oh my god. I am so sorry. It's been like, six months. **

**This chapter is really short because it's been so long since I wrote chapter three that I've kind of forgotten the flow of the story. Hopefully I can get back into it.**

**Thank you guys so much for all your lovely reviews, I really don't deserve them.**

**3**

Jack's eyes fluttered open. It wasn't unusual for him to wake up in the early hours of the morning, these days.

Gwen was in his arms, her head resting on his chest, slowly moving up and down with his breathing.

Her cheeks were glistening; she'd been crying. She must be a silent crier, Jack mused sadly, for it to not have woken him up.

There was something about this Welsh girl that confused him. He felt himself inexplicably attached to her-he had since the moment he saw her, all that time ago, in that rainy murder scene.

Thinking back on his life, Jack realised he'd never really had a committed relationship. He'd never felt the need for one, not even with Ianto.

But with Gwen..the idea of having stability with her, _only _having her...it didn't scare him as much as it did when he pictured it with other people.

His contented mood was crushed at his next thought, however.

If he told Gwen how he was feeling, there was no way she'd take him seriously. There was no way _anyone _would take him seriously. Because they were so used to this flirty, non-committed Jack, if he let slip he wanted a proper relationship-with _Gwen _of all people, the _engaged _one-they'd just laugh, and continue on with their day. Fuck, even Jack was having a hard time coming to terms with this, and he knew himself better than anyone. Maybe that was the problem.

He felt rather overwhelmed by all of this, and gently rolled over, making sure not to wake up Gwen. Despite his tough manliness (or so he liked to think); he felt like he'd burst into tears if her saw Gwen's beautiful face. Maybe he should have sent her home, he thought miserably.

Gwen slowly drifted into consciousness.

She lay there peacefully for a few moments, not remembering the events of the last day or so.

Suddenly, like a weight dropping onto her brain, every detail came rushing back.

Her eyes started prickling as she thought of Rhys. They started streaming when she thought of Jack and what had happened between them earlier. They hadn't kissed or done anything; but she still felt like she didn't deserve to exist after thinking about another man in the way she'd thought about Jack.

_Oh God, _she suddenly thought. _What about Ianto? _

She knew Jack and Ianto had a 'thing'. But they'd never really confirmed anything. Would Ianto be hurt about her and Jack's... chemistry? Ianto put up with Jack hooking up and flirting with hundreds of other people/aliens. But so close to home...after Owen told her about Ianto shooting him, Gwen knew she didn't want to get on his bad side.

**oh god I'm sorry that was so short**


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